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Meta (from Greek:
μετά = "after", "beyond", "with"), is a prefix used in English
in order to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another
concept, used to complete or add to the latter. The Greek meta is
equivalent to the Latin
post.

In epistemology, the prefix
meta- is used to mean about (its own category). For example,
metadata are data about
data (who has produced them, when, what format the data are in and
so on). Similarly, metamemory in psychology
means an individual's knowledge about whether or not
they would remember something if they concentrated on recalling it.
Furthermore, metaemotion in psychology
means an individual's emotion about his/her own basic emotion, or
somebody else's basic emotion..

Another, slightly different interpretation of
this term is "about" but not "on" (exactly its own category). For
example, in linguistics a grammar is considered as a metalanguage, or a sort of
language for describing another language (and not itself). A
meta-answer is not a real answer but a reply, such as: "this is not
a good question", "I suggest you ask your professor". Here, we have
such concepts as meta-reasoning and meta-knowledge.

In addition to a prefix, "meta" is sometimes used
as an adjective ("that statement was meta").

The term meta also refers back to Roman Times. A
"meta" was a structure mounted on the ends of the central spina in
Roman chariot races. In many of the Romance languages, the term
"meta" is basically an aim or goal. Roman Charioteers would aim
their chariots for this pole-like structure during their races, in
order to stay on track.

Etymology

The prefix comes from the Greekpreposition and
prefix
meta- (μετά) which meant "after", "beside", "among", "with" (with
respect to the preposition, some of these meanings were
distinguished by case
marking). Meta- (along with Meso-, also borrowed
as a prefix into English: e.g. "Mesoamerica")
is cognate with English
"mid-". Its use in English is the result of back-formation
from the word "metaphysics". In origin metaphysics was so named (by
Andronicus
of Rhodes) simply because it followed the book on physics in
the customary ordering of the works of Aristotle; it
thus meant nothing more than "[the book that comes] after [the book
on] physics". However, even Latin writers misinterpreted this as
entailing that metaphysics constituted "the science of what is
beyond the physical". The use of the prefix was later extended to
other contexts based on this.

Quine and Hofstadter

The OED cites uses of the
meta- prefix as "beyond, about" (such as meta-economics and
meta-philosophy) going back to 1917. However, these formations are
directly parallel to the original "metaphysics" and "metaphysical",
that is, as a prefix to general nouns (fields of study) or
adjectives. Going by the OED citations, it began to be used with
specific nouns in connection with mathematical logic sometime
before 1929. (In 1920 David
Hilbert proposed a research project in what was called
"metamathematics.")

A notable early citation is Quine's
1937 use of the word "metatheorem", where meta- clearly has the
modern meaning of "an X about X". (Note that earlier uses of
"meta-economics" and even "metaphysics" do not have this doubled
conceptual structure, they are about or beyond X but they do not
themselves constitute an X). Note also that this modern meaning
allows for self-reference,
since if something is about the category to which it belongs, it
can be about itself; it is therefore no coincidence that we find
Quine, a mathematician interested in self-reference, using
it.

Douglas
Hofstadter, in his 1979 book Gödel,
Escher, Bach (and in the sequel, Metamagical
Themas), popularized this meaning of the term. This book, which
deals extensively with self-reference and touches on Quine and his
work, was influential in many computer-related subcultures, and is
probably largely responsible for the popularity of the prefix, for
its use as a solo term, and for the many recent coinages which use
it. Hofstadter uses the meta as a stand-alone word, both as an
adjective and as a directional preposition ("going meta", a term he
coins for the old rhetorical trick of taking a debate or analysis
to another level of abstraction, as in "This debate isn't going
anywhere."). This book is also probably responsible for the direct
association of "meta" with self-reference, as opposed to just
abstraction. The sentence "This sentence contains thirty six
letters." along with the sentence it is embedded in are examples of
sentences that reference themselves in this way.